TKO for Women: Equality Is Fine, but Only to a Point

Article excerpt

She is a slick, accomplished technician. She can slip the jab
and counter with a crackling overhand right.

She knows how to pivot and how to bring the full torque of her
body into a left hook that is shattering in its force, concussive
in its impact.

She is a ferocious predator in the ring, always on the stalk,
and even when her pink trunks are splattered with crimson and she
is swallowing her own blood, she . . .
I'm sorry, but here is where we're stopping.
Because it's always right about here where I have problems with
female boxers in general, and with Christy Martin in particular. It
is unsettling. It is disquieting.
A woman gets her nose broken, an eye closed, a lip fattened, I
get squeamish. If that makes me sexist and chauvinistic, then I
confess, and without apology.
This has nothing to do with gender equality. It has nothing to
do with gender bias. It has everything to do with old-fashioned
notions. If Martin wants to make a buck by bleeding in public,
that's her right. I'm in no position to pass judgment. And a part
of me will admire her grit and pluck.
And yes, a larger part of me will cringe and squirm and want to
jump up and shout: "Stop it!"
There are many noble causes that deserve to be advanced. But
women pounding the stuffing out of one another in a boxing ring is
a movement that serves no worthy purpose that I can fathom. Of
course, men doing the same thing is without discernible redemption
as well, but the fact is, it is our oldest sport and has a
visceral, atavistic appeal to our dark side. Despite the best
efforts of the reformers, it will always be around.
I am for equal rights. I am for equal pay. Women want to go to
the Citadel, fine. Women want to serve in the military, fine.
But not in combat. That is where I draw the philosophical line.
This is my reason: Women are the only ones with the precious gift
of giving life. I don't want to see them taking it, too. We do
enough of that for both genders.
Martin, 28, is 5 feet 4 and 133 pounds. She is from Bluefield,
West-By-God-Virginia. She is billed as The Coal Miner's Daughter,
and unlike most claims in boxing, that one is true enough. …